Tag Archive | "jim irsay"

It’s remarkable how hilariously “obvious” the media can be in this country.

This Jim Irsay-Peyton Manning saga is a perfect example of that statement.

Someone asked Irsay a question about Manning. He answered it. He said nothing wrong — and far be it from someone in Baltimore to defend an Irsay.

It’s unreal these days how you’re not allowed to “speak the truth”, even when asked an “obvious” question like the one Irsay was asked about Manning.

And then, when the media does ask an “obvious” question, they ridicule the reply and pimp it as “disrespect” to sell newspapers or magazines or get you to watch or listen to a certain program on the air.

The reality in Indianapolis? For as great as they were in the Manning era, the Colts underachieved on the field when you go back and look at the totality of their successes.

More reality? Much like the Ravens did with Ray Lewis in Baltimore, the Colts handed over their franchise to Manning and said, “Do with it what you want…” And, of course, Manning was sensational in Indianapolis, like Lewis was here in Charm City.

The reality about Ray Lewis, like Manning, is that his time in Baltimore wasn’t “perfect”. But, it was certainly substantial enough for all of us to admit the obvious — without Ray Lewis in purple from 1996-2013, the Ravens franchise isn’t where they are today. The same can be said in Indy. Without Peyton Manning, the Colts aren’t where they are today.

All that said, Jim Irsay was simply telling the truth when he said – paraphrasing – “you like all the numbers and scoring but what you really want are more rings.”

That’s all true.

It was code word for: “We sold our soul for Peyton and gave him as many offensive toys we could…and while we piled up a bunch of points and made the games exciting for our home fans, that one-sided philosophy didn’t translate to multiple titles.”

You can almost flip the sides of the ball and say the same thing for the Ravens and Ray Lewis during his time here. The Ravens did get a second title with Ray in the fold, but he was essentially a part-timer with a bad arm and deer antler spray on his breath by the time the final whistle blew in New Orleans last February. Ray, though – much like Peyton – pulled more than his fair share of the weight when he was in Baltimore. And the club responded by giving him the keys to the franchise. When Ray spoke, everyone listened…and rightfully so. Lewis earned that sort of respect with his play on the field and his leadership in the locker room, but the one-sided approach in Baltimore – defense over offense – only produced two Super Bowl trips from 1996 until the end of the 2012 season. From ’99 through ’11, the one sided approach in Indy produced the same number of trips to the Super Bowl as the Ravens had — two.

Reality — In Indianapolis, they brushed up against greatness a lot when Peyton Manning was there but weren’t quite successful enough overall. One Super Bowl ring proves that.

And there was nothing at all wrong with the way Jim Irsay commented on it.